The Yankees, who had long been suspicious of the Red Sox stealing catchers’ signs in Fenway Park, contended the video showed a member of the Red Sox training staff looking at his Apple Watch in the dugout and then relaying a message to players, who may have then been able to use the information to know the type of pitch that was going to be thrown, according to the people familiar with the case.

Baseball investigators corroborated the Yankees’ claims based on video the commissioner’s office uses for instant replay and broadcasts, the people said. The commissioner’s office then confronted the Red Sox, who admitted that their trainers had received signals from video replay personnel and then relayed that information to some players — an operation that had been in place for at least several weeks.

Stealing signs is normal, legal, and part of the game. Generally, if the players have an issue with it, they take matters into their own hands and deal with the problem on the field.

But this is too far.

As Michael McCann noted on Twitter (who, by the way, you should follow — he’s probably the best pro sport legal analyst on Twitter):

Maximum possible MLB fine for a team is $2M. But we haven't seen teams punished for using telescopes, binoculars and cameras to steal signs.

Baseball is a game founded in tradition; gloves are still made of leather, bats of maple, and baseballs still of hide (well, apparently). If you want to steal signals, do it the old fashioned way.